A structural engineer and his sons have combined to create a home which is ideally suited for its bushland surroundings on Sydney's northern beaches.
The new home at Bayview incorporates design ideas which Murray Coddington and his builder son Sean accumulated through earlier projects with which they were associated.
Sons Daniel, a roofer and Ben, a horticulturalist, were also involved at various stages as the unique home took shape on a steep block in an area regarded as at high risk from bushfires.
"I'd been involved to a minor extent with a couple of houses which Sean had built on the Northern Beaches over the last eight years and that's from where the idea to clad the walls and roof in steel came," Murray Coddington explained.
"There are other homes in the area which are clad in LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® and LYSAGHT MINI ORB® sheeting, so I knew the effect we could achieve.
"Cladding the walls in LYSAGHT MINI ORB® sheeting doesn't just make sense from a bushfire protection point of view, it also looks good in the bush in the COLORBOND® steel colour Windspray® which we selected."
The challenge of the one-in-three slope of the block was solved by the use of LYSAGHT BONDEK® structural steel decking.
"Because of the geotechnical challenges we decided to go with a light frame building and our engineer designed a suspended slab which made use of LYSAGHT BONDEK®," Murray Coddington said. "That allowed us to minimise the number of piers we needed.
"A slab depth of just 90mm was possible with spans of 2.5 metres. That kept the weight down and quickly created good work areas for the rest of the construction.
"I'm really happy with the outcome. The house fits into its surroundings very well visually and its design and construction make it ideally suited to the slope and to the area's bushfire risk."
For Sean Coddington the house he has just completed for his father is the latest development of an interest in steel cladding which goes back to before he obtained his builder's licence.
"I worked on a house clad in LYSAGHT MINI ORB® for another builder, then was involved in the construction of a couple of others on the northern beaches," he said.
"I even went to the Sunshine Coast to see the interesting steel clad houses built up there from the designs of local architects.
Sean Coddington liked what he saw, but as a builder he was certain that he could improve the result by paying particular attention to the finishing touches.
"As a material, steel cladding such as LYSAGHT MINI ORB® or LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® is extremely cost efficient, has minimal waste and is very quick to fix," he said.
"You can also get good visual effects by changing the direction of the profile to accommodate sun angles on a site, but you've got to finish it off professionally."
With his brother Daniel, a roofer, Sean Coddington applied to his father's house the detailing which he knew would make a big impact on the final result.
"With my father we spent time thinking about the flashing around windows and doors, to produce a picture frame effect," he said. "I think the effort we put in and the flashings we produced have really been worthwhile." With three uncles who are also builders, Sean Coddington was never going to be short of professional advice. On the evidence of the house he's just built for his parents Murray and Julie, he doesn't seem to need it.
